Recently, my sister introduced me to a small local business in her neighborhood that sells regional and seasonal fruits and vegetables. I was beyond happy with my purchases. I bought green asparagus, new potatoes, Braeburn apples and a bunch of rhubarb stalks.

Rhubard adds a pleasant tart flavor to spring treats like fruit crumbles and bars. Moreover, it pairs nicely with banana; hence, I had no excuse, but to make banana bread. This rhubarb banana bread is super easy to make and tastes outlandishly good. Please give it a try and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

IMPORTANT: You must remove the leaves from the stalks because they are poisonous.

Instructions

Ingredients

• 2 cups light spelt flour
• 1/2 cup organic brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp allspice or nutmeg
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed well
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon flax seed meal + 3 tablespoons water)
• 1/2 cup non-dairy milk + 2 teaspoons of lemon juice (vegan “butter” milk!)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4-6 rhubarb stalks (roughly 1 1/2 cup diced rhubarb)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, plus extra walnut halves for topping

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 ºC.
2. Coat your loaf pan with some vegan margarine or coconut-/canola oil.
3. Prepare vegan “butter” milk by combining non-dairy milk and lemon juice. Stir and set aside.
4. Prepare flax egg by combining flax meal and water. Stir and set aside.
5. Prepare rhubard by removing the leaves, cutting the stalks into dices, and adding a tablespoon of brown sugar. Stir and set aside.
6. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and allspice until all ingredients are well-distributed.
7. In a medium-sized bowl, combine mashed bananas, flax egg, vegan “butter” milk, oil, and vanilla extract. Whisk until all ingredients are well-incorporated.
8. Add wet- to dry mixture and mix ingredients thoroughly together using a spatula.
9. Fold 3/4 of the rhubarb-sugar mixture and the chopped walnuts into the batter.
10. Pour batter into greased loaf pan and top the batter with the remaining rhubarb dices and some walnut halves.
11. Bake for roughly 60-75 minutes (do a toothpick test to check for doneness!) and then let bread rest in pan for another 15 minutes before transferring the bread on a cooling rack.
12. Enjoy!

TIPS:

• If you would prefer a banana bread that is less moist, then leave it in the oven for at least 1 hour and 10 minutes (depending on your oven, of course).
• If you are worried that the top of your bread could get burnt, cover it with some aluminum foil for the remaining 15-20 minutes of the baking time.

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